Trust and the Cleveland Fan

This is an article about the Browns.

But first, I must digress.

In the last few days, the Cleveland Indians traded away a Cy Young award-winning pitcher, Cliff Lee, and one of their most popular position players, Victor Martinez.

As a Cleveland fan, you’d think we’d be used to fire sales by now, but personally, I never get used to the bad taste in my mouth after watching my home team raise the white flag on not only this season, but next season as well.

Whether or not the trades are ultimately good or bad is a debate for another time. My focus here is on perception versus reality.

The reality is the Indians aren’t going anywhere this season. The perception is we got a lot of minor leaguers for one of the best pitchers in the league right now and that we’ve traded away the Cy Young winner two years in a row.

That’s a lot frustration for one fanbase to take.

My personal take on the situation is we got a good deal for Martinez, but I’m afraid we might have gotten taken to the cleaners on Lee. I could be wrong, but I’m not happy with the Lee trade on Aug. 1, 2009.

My bigger concern is how this will shake out from a fan collective in the immediate future. The front office and ownership of the Indians just told Cleveland, “We stink, and we’re really sad about that, but to add insult to injury, we’re trading away everybody to cut payroll due to lowered attendance figures.”

Anyone with half a brain can figure out the Catch-22 the Indians are falling into. Lower attendance means lower revenue, which means the payroll needs to be cut, which means there’s less talent on the field, etc., all the way back to the beginning.

The late Dick Jacobs bought low and sold high on the Indians, but he understood the simple concept of selling a quality product. The Indians in the 90s sold themselves to the tune of 455 straight sell-outs.

The Dolans seem to be running the team on a shoestring budget and hoping for the best. Now that they’ve got the worst, where’s the bottom?

Which brings me back to the Browns.

Owner Randy Lerner certainly is in a better financial position than the Dolans, but at what point does the roster stop turning over and the team exhibit a winning record?

Indians fans were promised a “plan” in 2002 that ultimately got us nothing.

Browns fans have seen so many rebuilds since the franchise returned in 1999 that it feels like driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, always under construction, no end in sight.

The reality is we have a new head coach and general manager. Both of these men are vastly different than their predecessors. The perception is the Browns are going through yet another rebuild, albeit one that looks like it’s actually going somewhere for a change.

It’s about trust. The fans have to trust the front office actually is doing their best to put a quality product on the field that is capable of making a playoff run. As an Indians fan, the Dolans have betrayed that trust now. I’ll never believe anything that front office tells me again.

The Browns aren’t far behind. The tag-team of Eric Mangini and George Kokinis are on a very short rope with me. Until they prove they can win games, their past accomplishments mean absolutely squat to me.

I want to believe, and I am excited about the upcoming season. But after the last few years of close calls by all three Cleveland teams, someone has to deliver, or it’s time for new ownership.

(I excuse the Cavs from that last statement, for reasons obvious to anyone who’s the least bit interested in basketball.)

The Dolans appear to have spent all their money buying the team and no longer have the money to run it. They also don’t appear to have the guts to make the big decisions regarding the front office.

Lerner appears to be more interested in running English Football Clubs than American Football Teams. He also doesn’t seem to have the slightest inclination on how to hire front office people once the person in the chair starts self-destructing.

It’s time for a change, and Mangini must lead that charge. The good fans of Cleveland are depending on him.

Braylon Edwards: A Study in Narcissism

Braylon Edwards just doesn’t get it. 

 

I kept telling myself that, sooner or later, Edwards would string together a couple of good decisions and become a productive member of the Cleveland Browns.

 

Today, I’m not so sure that’s going to happen. He does make good decisions every now and then, it’s just that they’re broken up by his insistent need to placate his own ego.

 

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Edwards failed his physical upon reporting to the Browns training camp on Tuesday—one day late. What the ramifications of this situation could be still are unknown and I won’t speculate at this time.

 

Don’t get me wrong, Edwards isn’t Terrell Owens or Plaxico Burress…at least not yet. My problem with Edwards is the fact that it isn’t singular—I have PROBLEMS with Edwards as a fan possessed of above average football intelligence.

 

His on-field difficulties last year catching the ball, the only thing he really was signed to do, have been well documented. Fan ire from his lack of production has elicited pouty, juvenile remarks from Edwards that served no purpose other than to make things worse.

 

His off-field antics, however, have rarely been bad enough to warrant more than a few paragraphs and an almost “Manny being Manny” type response from the majority of the peanut gallery.

 

But let’s run down the list of off-field distractions Edwards has gotten himself into (and out of) since joining Cleveland in 2005.

 

His first year with the Browns featured a holdout. This situation isn’t entirely unusual with first round picks, but it was a bad way to start his NFL career.

 

Next, Edwards bonded with Kellen Winslow, Jr., during the 2006 offseason while both were rehabbing injuries. Given Winslow’s self destructive behavior, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Winslow probably wasn’t the best role model for Edwards to bond with.

 

During the 2006 season, Edwards attended the Ohio State-Michigan game against the advice of Browns coaches and several team captains. This would indicate a complete lack of respect for the people he worked with at the time, and not something the current regime would tolerate.

 

The 2007 season seemed to be a watershed year for Edwards, who made the Pro Bowl and had a fantastic season. It seemed he had turned a corner and finally was maturing into the kind of player we all wanted him to be.

 

In fact, Edwards even had made several donations to his alma mater, Michigan, and to local Cleveland charities. This would seem to indicate he was beginning to realize there was a world beyond his own ego.

 

But then the calendar turned to 2008.

 

Edwards couldn’t catch much of anything last year, and seemed more interested in being on ESPN as a guest commentator on NFL Live than scoring touchdowns.

 

I vividly remember the Monday night game versus the Giants, the one game where everyone played up to their potential, and Edwards had stripped off his uniform and put on a headset for the postgame show before most of the team had even left the field.

 

Edwards couldn’t wait to tell the world how good he was that night. Too bad it never happened again, but it did show you where his priorities were. Edwards put self-promotion above the team.

 

Once the calendar turned to 2009, you’d think things might be different.

 

Nope.

 

Apparently, Edwards was having a huge party with Donte Stallworth just prior to Stallworth committing DUI manslaughter. While Edwards’ renting of a hotel room is commendable, his decision to blow thousands of dollars on alcohol and then let Stallworth leave point to lapses in judgment.

 

Now it’s training camp time and Edwards appears to be a day late and an ankle short, if the rumors of a basketball-related injury are to be believed.

 

Head coach Eric Mangini doesn’t believe in disclosing injuries, so we are left to guess. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just frustrating from an analytical standpoint when you’re trying to figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it.

 

Edwards appears to be on the same path cleared for him by receivers such as Terrell Owens, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, and Randy Moss.

 

All the above mentioned names have had great numbers, but those numbers have come with increasingly bizarre behavior that have resulted in poisoned locker rooms and lost seasons.

 

Owens is down to his last team. There will be no other takers for Owens if he self destructs in Buffalo.

 

Ochocinco hasn’t won anything and will have to be a much better teammate and player this year to justify any kind of new contract he might want no matter what name he chooses to use.

 

Moss is the only one who appears to have righted himself, but that’s after wearing out his welcome in Minnesota and Oakland.

 

When you’re too much of a distraction for the Oakland Raiders, that says something. But I’ll give credit where credit is due because Moss has been a good teammate in New England.

 

Hopefully, Mangini can work the same kind of magic on Edwards this year, if for no other reason than to have him healthy and productive before the trading deadline.

 

Edwards has to realize that even though he’s been to a pro bowl, teams have far lower tolerances these days for the oversized egos most wide receivers seem to have acquired since the early nineties.

 

The occasional lapses in judgment have a tendency to become more frequent and more egregious when there are no consequences—just ask Stallworth.

 

If Jerry Jones will cut a productive Terrell Owens, that means he would have no interest in signing the much younger and far less productive Braylon Edwards. If Edwards can’t figure that out, then his agent better beat it into his skull.

 

I don’t see Edwards staying with the Browns past this season, but if he’s going to be here, I want him on the field, ready to produce.

 

It is critical for Edwards that he not only catch the ball, but that he make the right decisions when he’s not on the field. Otherwise, he’ll be just another big sports ego doing the perp walk for ESPN cameras.

Browns ’09: Different Is Good

While the rookies sit in meetings, the rest of us wait for the weekend, and the first real look at what is going to be different for the Browns this year.

 

Definitely different will be training camp. Gone is “Camp Feel Good” where no player was even remotely prepared to play a scrimmage, much less a regular season game.

 

In the lead-up to camp, the Browns began signing some draft picks.

 

The front office certainly was busy, signing Alex Mack, David Veikune and Kaluka Maiava. With those signings, we’re down to just the two unsigned wide receivers, Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi.

 

While there are a ton of questions surrounding the team, two areas of the team I can take the bank as “givens” are:

 

1. The defensive line has nowhere to go but up and should look much improved
2. There are a lot of new faces at the wide receiver position.

Those two things aren’t that difficult to figure out, but they are worth mentioning because our defensive line was practically non-existent last year, and the people we did have catching balls last year didn’t really catch much of anything.

 

Going into the second half of the 2008 season, even the casual fan was griping that the team had just “quit” and was just going through the motions. 

 

Braylon Edwards couldn’t catch the swine flu and watching a game after Derek Anderson got injured was the fan equivalent of the Bataan Death March.

 

There’s only so much of the roster head coach Eric Mangini could turnover going into this season, so the players that are gone won’t be missed, and the players invited to camp have one last shot to impress, or they’ll be headed out the door as well.

 

Kamerion Wimbley and D’Qwell Jackson have shown solid skills in the past and were drafted to be impact players on the 3-4 defense. Last year they were basically invisible, with Wimbley only making 66 tackles and four sacks.

 

Since Wimbley’s strength is supposed to be his pass rushing, that number is…very bad.

 

Edwards is in a contract year, meaning he has extra incentive to not suck this year. That being said, I don’t expect Edwards to finish the season with the Browns. If he gets off to a good start, his trade value goes up and the Browns could trade him for draft picks.

 

Staying with the receivers, Robiskie and Massaquoi will sign, most likely in time for the first practice this weekend as neither one of these guys wants to be the guy on the sidelines, out of the rotation due to a contract holdout.

 

That cost Brady Quinn the 2007 season, and now look where we are with that position.

 

We also can’t forget about Beau Bell. Bell spent much of last season injured, and the rest of the season pretty much ignored. As I’ve said before, if you weren’t a proven veteran, Romeo Crennel didn’t know you existed.

 

When Bell was available, he was barely used. Considering the performance from the players who were used, his sidelining was inexcusable. I’m not saying he’s the second coming of Lawrence Taylor, but we never even got a chance to see if he was the second coming of Mike Junkin.

 

Back on offense, I expect to score touchdowns this year. That certainly is something different than last year when we didn’t score an offensive touchdown the last six games of the year.

 

The complete meltdown of the offense can partially be blamed on injuries, but at some point, the coaches have to coach, and the players have to play.

 

Neither of those things happened in the latter part of the 2008 campaign. I expect nothing but 110 percent from the players and the coaches this year clear through to the bitter end.

 

While Mangini’s 2008 Jets fell apart as well in the last few weeks of the season, they never quit and they never looked like they were going through the motions.

 

The 2008 Browns quit, despite quotes to the contrary, and I never want to see that again.

 

However, I don’t expect to see that this year. Mangini doesn’t seem to me to be the kind of guy who tolerates players who quit. Therefore, I expect to see winners.

 

That would be different, and that would be good.

 

Five Reasons to Be Excited About Cleveland Browns Training Camp

Just in case you missed the news, rookies reported to training camp on Friday.

The Browns were the first team in the league to get things underway in 2009, so that means we officially can start getting excited about the upcoming season.

As I write this, Alex Mack is not under contract, though rumors persist he’ll be signed by the time the sun rises on July 25.

While all the second round picks still float in the ether, fear not. Once a few of the second round picks sign in the next few days, the rest of the group will know what the payscale is and fall into line.

Plus, don’t think Mangini didn’t deliberately schedule the rookies to report so early as a bargaining chip to make sure they’re all actually under contract and in camp by Aug. 1.

With the contract unpleasantness handles, let’s officially get excited and celebrate the top five reasons we’re happy training camp has started.

Training Camp Can’t “Shelter” Cleveland Browns From All Of Their Internal Storms

“Oh, a storm is threat’ning, My very life today; If I don’t get some shelter, Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away.” – Rolling Stones

 

It seems no matter how hard a team may try, there always are events threatening to spin out of control just before the season starts.

 

Players report for training camp in just over a week, and there are several issues swirling around Berea. How these issues are resolved will determine the course of 2009.

 

“Gimme Shelter” is a song about events spinning out of control and the need to find a calm center. Given the last few years in Cleveland sports, you play professor on why I chose to use it as a theme for this column.

 

For a team as bad as the Browns were last year, they certainly have been interesting to follow this past offseason. Going into training camp, they are as intriguing as ever.

 

Just how much influence does head coach Eric Mangini wield in the front office with general manager George Kokinis? How will they put this team together? What will the final product look like?

 

I could go on, but let’s move forward.

 

You’ve got two contract situations with kicker Phil Dawson and everyman Josh Cribbs. There’s the “quarterback controversy,” new schemes to be learned on both sides of the ball, and above all, beating teams in our own division.

 

The latest reports state Cribbs will not holdout from camp, indicating a victory for Mangini, who has quietly been stamping out egos on the team formerly allowed to run free.

 

The news is not so good in regards to Dawson, where rumor has it he fully intends a holdout unless he gets a bigger contract.

 

My initial response to this news was, “Good luck with that.”

 

Now Dawson may very well have been the team’s leading scorer last year given Romeo Crennel’s fondness for kicking field goals instead of getting into the end zone, but whether or not there is any truth in that last statement is completely irrelevant because Mangini will happily move on without Dawson.

 

I don’t know a whole lot about Mangini yet, but I’ve seen enough to realize he’ll cut ties with Dawson and find another kicker without losing any sleep over the matter. Mangini is the type of coach who just needs a warm body at that position with decent range.

 

I think it’s safe to say rookie Parker Douglass is ready and willing to take Dawson’s job for a lot less money.

 

Those two contract issues are but two of the storm clouds moving in. There’s the matter of unsigned second round draft picks Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi still lingering, but I expect all our guys to be signed by the time players report on July 31.

 

The biggest thunderhead is, of course, the Brady Quinn versus Derek Anderson debate. I’ve already made my feelings known on this, so let’s move on. It’s not worth talking about again until the preseason actually starts.

 

On defense, you have another attempt to implement the 3-4 scheme. Besides Shaun Rogers, there is the disappointing Shaun Smith, new faces on the corners, and the mysterious Kamerion Wimbley.

 

Wimbley, a first round draft pick in 2006, lit things up his rookie year, yet seemed overwhelmed last year, posting only four sacks. Just watching him last year was painful because you kept saying, “I know he’s better than this.”

 

The offensive line is undergoing an evolution with the addition of center Alex Mack. There really is nowhere to go but up for this squad, so we’ll all probably be satisfied with their progress no matter what.

 

If Mangini can execute his plans, beat the Steelers, and turn in a performance akin to his first year with the Jets, there’ll be a lot of excitement around Brownstown.

 

Between the contract issues, the daunting task of completely rebuilding a team, and having the unenviable task of getting all the veterans to buy into his philosophy, Mangini has quite a gauntlet to navigate through.

 

But I believe Mangini can come through this a winner. It’s just a shot away.

Browns ’09: Another Second Look

I talked recently abouht some overlooked players getting a second chance under new head coach Eric Mangini.

 

I’d like to talk about that some more.

 

When you look at the running back situation in Cleveland, it isn’t as cut and dried as you might think. Gone are the days where the established veteran is given the job and allowed to fail week after week.

 

I’m not saying our running backs were the biggest problem on the team last year, far from it, but they were mishandled.

 

Jamal Lewis was the number one running back on the team in 2008. He had 279 touches resulting in 1,002 yards with four touchdowns averaging 3.6 yards per carry.

 

Compare that to league-leading Adrian Peterson, who amassed 1,760 yards on 363 carries with 10 touchdowns. Peterson averaged 4.8 yards per carry.

 

When you compare the two, they don’t even look like they compete in the same league. Granted the Browns’ offensive line wasn’t very good, but I wouldn’t say the Vikings had a stellar line, either.

 

What is worth pointing out, and they don’t have a stat for it, is the way in which Lewis hit the line in 2008 compared to 2007 when he had 1,304 yards on 298 touches with nine touchdowns, averaging 4.4 yards per carry.

 

Lewis just didn’t look as explosive hitting that line last year. In layman’s terms, it looked like Lewis had lost a step last year.

 

Lewis turns 30 on Aug. 26, and 30 is a magical number for running backs for all the wrong reasons. Historically, NFL running backs do all their best work before the age of 30, with their careers steadily going downhill shortly after that inevitable birthday.

 

Now, this is all a long-winded way of saying Jerome Harrison should have gotten the ball more last year and definitely should be the starting running back going into 2009.

 

In 2008, Harrison only got the ball 34 times for 246 yards and scoring one lone touchdown. He averaged 7.2 yards per carry.

 

Looking at those numbers makes me want to criminalize Romeo Crennel’s coaching decisions last year, just so we can have a proper accounting and retribution for such an offensive coaching job.

 

If you have a running back averaging 7.2 yards per carry after only 34 attempts, that means he tends to find holes and rack up some yards.

 

Since touchdowns were something Crennel tried to avoid scoring last year, it’s not a surprise he effectively benched Harrison. We wouldn’t want to do something silly like get first downs and put six points on the board.

 

TO THE DUNGEONS WITH YOU, I SAY!!!!!

 

The question to be answered this year is whether Crennel was right or wrong in the determining whether he had a bunch of poor talent on the roster that he did all he could do with, or if there’s a roster bursting with talent Crennel could never figure out how to utilize.

 

I lean toward the latter sentiment. The blank, confused expressions on his face on Sundays the last few years tell me he had his plans and he had his schemes, but he never bothered to match any of those plans and schemes to the actual talent on the roster.

 

Instead, there was a lot of pounding square pegs into round holes. The results speak for themselves.

 

Looking back through Mangini’s press conference transcripts, he dropped more than one hint about Harrison being more than what has been shown.

 

Lewis will get one more shot, of that I have no doubt. But if Harrison comes in and runs circles around him, I expect Lewis to evolve into the Browns version of Jerome Bettis. He would be good for short yardage situations, and the reduced amount of reps would keep his legs fresh through the season.

 

How running backs Noah Herron, James Davis, and fullback Lawrence Vickers fit into Mangini’s plans will play itself out during training camp. Hopefully, injuries will not force an early decision.

 

Coming up: I’m not done giving players a second look. There’s a lot to get through before training camp.

 

See you soon.

Five Questions for Browns Fans to Ponder

What is a football fan to do during the heat of July when virtually all of the NFL is on vacation?

We can ask ourselves questions that can’t be answered for at least another month, that’s what we can do!!

So, while the players and coaches in the NFL take their last break before training camps open, let’s take a look at five questions all Browns fans should be asking themselves as the 2009 season approaches.

Eric Mangini: A Lot to Prove in ’09

It now is officially one month until the start of training camp, and I’m going to get the negativity out of my system.

 

I want to go into the new season with a clean slate and an open mind. So with that said, I’m going to get my gripes out now. That way they’ll be out there, and when I’m praising the new coaching staff, I can’t be called a shill.

 

Like the economy, until this coaching staff proves it’s turning things around when it counts, I have no faith things are going to get better. I am a cynic because of circumstances.

 

I have watched the Browns go through three administrations in 10 years, each time with the promise things would get better. But, like the Indians, failure is tolerated in Cleveland to an alarming extent.

 

Head coach Eric Mangini, so far, has proved he runs a much better camp than Romeo Crennel ever did, and veterans have to work just as hard as rookies to make his team.

 

Players are punished for losing concentration and prima donnas are not tolerated. This is a huge change from the ‘Romeo Crennel Football Daycare’ that was run in Berea the last few years.

 

This new attitude of crafting a professional football team in Cleveland has caused a lot of excitement on various Web sites, this one included. A lot of people are saying the Browns might have finally gotten this whole professional football team thing right for a change.

 

The current administration actually seems intent on winning some games, rather than just showing up and going through the motions.

 

I then asked the question, “It is one thing to run a good practice, but do these players have the talent to execute what they’re being taught on the field?”

 

I’m not so sure.

 

There still are a lot of mediocre players on this team. Mangini and general manager George Kokinis can only do so much with one off-season.

 

The fact that they continue to make minor free agent signings speaks volumes about what their views actually are on team depth.

 

I’ve almost been waiting for the Browns to announce open tryouts for any fan between the ages of 18-34, or just awarding a linebacker position to one lucky fan via a raffle ticket.

 

I’ll be the first to tell you a good coach gets the best out of mediocre players. Since this roster still has a lot of mediocre players, this year will be a good litmus test to see how Mangini has grown as a coach.

 

Mangini is a branch on the Bill Belichick coaching tree. I’m not a fan of the Belichick coaching tree as the results have been less than stellar. In fact, Crennel was another branch on that tree, and I’d rather forget that era.

 

To clarify, I know Mangini will be better than Crennel ever could’ve hoped to be. He’s proven that already through his time in New York.  But that doesn’t mean he’ll be better in Cleveland than he was in New York, especially this year.

 

In New York, Mangini went 10-6, 4-12, and 9-7.  Mangini only made the playoffs his first year, a loss to the Patriots.

 

This kind of track record doesn’t exactly make me shiver with anticipation.

 

The Browns, on paper, have a much easier schedule this year. They also have much lower expectations. I’ll be happy with a 6-10 record at this point, with one of those victories coming against the Steelers.

 

The million dollar question at this point is: Can the Browns be this year’s Miami Dolphins?

 

Certainly, anything is possible before the season starts. I want to see how this team performs on the field during the regular season before I make another assessment of Mangini.

 

Preseason games are hard to figure out because many teams have horrible preseasons and then go on to have a great regular season.

 

Then you have the Browns, who looked bad in preseason play and then even worse in the regular season last year.

 

The bottom line for me at this point in the year is my tolerance for failure has disappeared. The Cavs came up short to the Orlando Magic, and the Indians have run up the white flag before the Fourth of July.

 

With my spring and summer already ruined, it’s up to the Browns to not ruin the rest of my year.

Randy Lerner: Tolerating Failure in Cleveland

With a little more than six weeks to go until training camp starts, it’s time to look at what the Browns have done so far.

 

Since the end of last season, owner Randy Lerner has hired a new head coach and general manager. They, in turn, have almost completely overturned the rest of the coaching staff and have begun rebuilding the roster from the ground up.

 

But I’m going to focus on Lerner.

 

Lerner’s track record with the Cleveland Browns has been one of absenteeism. It would be fair to say the Browns are not his top priority. He bought the Aston Villa F.C. in the autumn of 2006, and, anecdotally, it is known that being a part of the English Premiership Association was something he wanted for years.

 

My powers of ESP have failed me, so I can’t read Lerner’s mind, but actions speak louder than words in this matter.

 

What has he done with the Browns since inheriting it from his father in October 2002?

 

Lerner has gone through two front offices in seven years with nothing to show for it. His mediocre teams have managed just one playoff appearance (a loss to the Steelers).

 

That’s it.

 

The only thing I can say about Lerner’s time as an owner to date is that he has an amazing tolerance for failure.

 

Head Coach Butch Davis resigned during the 2004 season when it became apparent he’d lost the team and wasn’t going to be retained anyway. Then Lerner hired a new head coach and general manager, Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage.

 

They only produced one winning season that upon reflection was more a scheduling fluke and good timing than fielding a talented, productive team.

 

In fact, the Savage/Crennel duo produced one of the most unprofessional teams in the league. Players were not held accountable for their actions and the sloppy play on Sundays was met with indifferent shrugs and vague promises to get better.

 

Once again, losing was accepted and failure was tolerated in Cleveland.

 

It is maddening to look back on the last few years and see the Savage/Crennel team having more opportunities to fail than most any other organization would’ve even dreamt about giving in the name of continuity and patience.

 

(I’m looking at you, Detroit.)

 

Conversely, since Lerner became chairman of Aston Villa, they have won the Intertoto Cup. While I’m not sure what the correlation to American Football would be, at least his English team has won SOMETHING.

 

(I know the Intertoto Cup has been abolished and it was kind of a consolation prize to begin with, but that’s not the point.)

 

In Cleveland, not only has Lerner allowed his front office to wallow in failure, he avoids the media and has no bio page on the official Cleveland Browns website. You have to do an internet search to find a picture of the guy.

 

It’s one thing to be a hands-off owner, it’s another thing to just not show up.  I couldn’t conceive of running a sports team and being as hands-off as Lerner is.

 

I’m glad he’s not as overbearing as a Jerry Jones or George Steinbrenner, but those guys both have multiple championships and don’t tolerate multiple losing seasons. Mimicking SOME of their qualities would be beneficial.

 

Tolerating failure in Cleveland isn’t unique to the Browns, though.

 

When you look around the other teams in Cleveland, you see the Indians have fallen into the same funk as the Browns had, and then there are the Cavaliers.

 

Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry has done everything he can to bring a winning team to Cleveland. He built the 2008-09 team to beat the Celtics, since it was assumed that’s who we would have to face in the Eastern Conference Finals, only to be beaten by Orlando.

 

Now the Cavs have Shaquille O’Neal, and Ferry once again has said anything less than a championship is not acceptable.

 

With the Indians, General Manager Mark Shapiro and coach Eric Wedge are seemingly joined at the hip and spend so much time tinkering and counseling patience, they’ve forgotten you’re supposed to win games and get rid of players who don’t produce.

 

I don’t want to hear any complaints about injuries because every single player that went on the disabled list this year wasn’t producing prior to their injury, and injuries are never an excuse for losing. Injuries should be an opportunity for the team to show their depth and showcase new talent.

 

But not in Cleveland.

 

As long as you “grind it out” during the season, you get to keep your job with the Indians. Once again, winning doesn’t seem to be the goal.

 

However, talking further about the ineptitude of the Indians is its own column (perhaps a novel), so I’ll shut up about the Indians now.

 

In conclusion, if the Browns show no progress this year, or worse, regress further, Lerner has no track record of holding them accountable.

 

He certainly won’t be in the office.

Donte Stallworth and You: Why We’re Different

Life kept me away from a computer this morning, so I’m late to the Donte Stallworth sentencing party.

 

Perusing the site, I saw a few takes on the situation and wondered, “What can I add to the discussion?”

 

We’ve learned that Stallworth has very good lawyers and that killing a man obviously merits a lower sentence than killing some dogs in the modern court system.

 

We’ve also learned that money tends to solve a lot of problems, no matter how deep the proverbial hole you’ve dug yourself into is.

 

And that, my friends, is the hook upon which I shall hang my hat.

 

Stallworth, quite simply, has a lot of money. He made more money ($4.5 million) on his roster bonus the day before he killed Mario Reyes than most people will ever make in their entire lives. 

 

For the crime of DUI manslaughter of Reyes on March 14, Stallworth has been sentenced to 30 days in jail—which he can complete before training camp starts July 31—two years house arrest, eight years probation, 1,000 hours of community service, and a lifetime suspension of his driver’s license.

 

A corollary to that is Stallworth may apply for limited driving privileges, such as for employment, in five years.

 

For a man who could’ve afforded a driver that night, this sentence strikes just about everyone I’ve talked to as a ridiculous miscarriage of justice.

 

Or is it?

 

I ask this question in the most serious manner. A miscarriage of justice assumes something out of the ordinary happened, thus letting a perpetrator off the hook without receiving a just punishment.

 

Throughout history, the rich have traditionally bought their way out of serving jail time.

 

Why should this case be seen in a different light?

 

“This is America!” you cry.

 

Yes, it is. This is the country that freed O.J. Simpson for a double murder that even he’s allegedly admitted to in a backhanded, “fictional,” way. The fact he was sent to jail last year for armed robbery only proves the point. By 2008, most of his money was gone and he’d become a pariah in society.

 

Without the money to buy the best attorney, a favorable jury, and sway public opinion, he had to face justice just like the rest of us.

 

While Stallworth hadn’t quite attained the level of fame Simpson had, he had a lot of money to buy the best attorney available and was able to cut a deal with the Reyes family that the prosecutor signed off on.

 

To look at it in another way, the average “Joe” committing DUI manslaughter is going to get significant jail time plus all the other fines and conditions. But the average person doesn’t have a $35 million contract he can fall back on.

 

Since the families of the deceased can’t sue Joe Six Pack for $10 million and expect to see one penny of that amount, Joe Six Pack goes to jail for 15 years. Stallworth empties a huge portion of his bank account and only gets 30 days behind bars.

 

So for an “undisclosed amount,” Stallworth effectively bought out his jail time. He still gets the house arrest and probation, but it beats actually sitting in a prison cell. It was money well spent.

 

I can’t bring myself to pass judgment on the Reyes family for letting themselves be “bought out,” because I’m not in their position. If they turn down the money and make Stallworth spend more time in jail, how does that bring Mario back?

 

In these tough economic times, I can’t be upset with them for taking the money. Maybe Mario would have wanted it that way.

 

For all the people out there sitting in jail for extended lengths for the same crime, this feels unfair. 

 

It is unfair. But life is unfair.

 

If I was filthy rich, there’s a lot of stuff I wouldn’t worry about. On the other hand, I’d always be paranoid that I was going to get targeted in a multimillion dollar lawsuit for something little just because someone saw an opportunity for a payday.

 

I’m not saying I wouldn’t trade lifestyles with the rich and famous, I’m merely pointing out that having a lot of money, especially so much so young, can bring its own set of problems and frustrations.

 

At the end of the day, the family of the deceased and the legal system came to an agreement, and the rest of the public has to accept that agreement. That’s how the system works. Having worked around the court system for seven years, I know for a fact prosecutors and defense attorneys do everything within their power to avoid a trial. This outcome is a result of that desire.

 

Stallworth got off easy, no doubt about that. He’ll be able to make a lot of the money he lost back. Even with the expected NFL suspension, Stallworth, 28, still has several more years of football left in him.

 

He’ll be able to recoup that money with his next contract. He’ll still be able to do the things everyone else does everyday with the help of a driver, because he can afford to pay one.

 

When you think about it, Stallworth, who was on his way to the beach that morning, still will be able to finish that trip the day he gets out of jail—on July 16.

 

Reyes can’t go to the beach anymore because he’s dead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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